Description
We present a dynamical and chemical model of the inner wind of the carbon-rich, AGB star IRC+10216. We include the effect of pulsation-driven shocks on the gas envelope close to the stellar photosphere and construct an extended chemical model that includes in particular the chemistry of hydrocarbon species and silicon and sulphur-bearing molecules. The derived theoretical abundances for many molecules are in excellent agreement with values obtained from observations of infrared ro-vibrational molecular lines. We confirm the ``parent'' character of certain chemical species and show that the inner wind of IRC+10216, and more generally of evolved AGB stars, is an active dynamical and chemical region where molecules are formed and processed.
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